


Tried by Treatise, Baptized by Proof

by SansRene_KantGaster



Series: The Unified Theory Papers [10]
Category: Saw, Undertale
Genre: Experimental
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29554140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SansRene_KantGaster/pseuds/SansRene_KantGaster
Summary: Conceptually, this is a sequel toBut Not me. Not Anymore, and an interquel toOF COURSE (⚐︎☞︎ 👍︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎💧︎☜︎). However, it's not necessary to read either of them to understand this storySpoilers for the first, second, third, sixth, and eighth Saw films.If you want to know which sources I used, read the endnotes.
Series: The Unified Theory Papers [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1176101
Kudos: 2





	Tried by Treatise, Baptized by Proof

**Author's Note:**

> Listen to this song while reading the story.  
> [Saw Spiral Music: Baptism | EPIC VERSION (Hello Amanda)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT9WGgXF0pA)

Tried by Treatise, Baptized by Proof  
  
“You see-the knowledge of death changes everything. If I were to tell you the exact date and time of your own death, it would shatter your world completely. […] You look at things differently […]. You savor everything—be it a glass of water or a walk in the park. […] But most people have the luxury of not knowing when that clock’s gonna go off. And the irony of it is that keeps them from really living their life. It keeps them drinking that glass of water, but never really tasting it.”  
\--Toben Bell as John Kramer, Saw II  
  
 ***He*** knew what it was like.  
  
To know the exact date and time of ***his*** own death.  
  
No matter how many times ***he*** learned it, doing so still shattered ***his*** world completely.  
  
No matter how many times ***he*** learned it, ***he*** would still look at things differently.  
  
Despite the apocalyptic circumstances, ***he*** still savored everything: from drinking in the rush of power rising from the depths of ***his*** soul, as ❤️ **determination** ❤️, ***his*** OWN ❤️ **determination** ❤️, surged through ***him*** , the walk to the Judgment Hall… or opening ***his*** mouth to speak what ***he*** assumed, time and time again, would be ***his*** last words.  
  
 ***He*** knew what cherishing ***His*** life meant… but THEY did not.  
  
The REST of the world did not.  
  
Therefore, ***he*** resolved to teach them ***his*** , JIGSAW’S, philosophy, as ***HE*** had learned it: to harden them against the struggles everyone would face, while building a society fit for humans, AND monsters, alike.  
  
However, ***he*** could not test them all, in ***his*** current state or otherwise, so ***he*** sought an…  
  
APPRENTICE.  
  
This apprentice, had proven himself worthy, via, what HE would call, a series of seemingly obvious acts.  
  
He had proved his intelligence, by analyzing daunting philosophical materials, people easily spent years, lifetimes, or even afterlife-times, understanding.  
  
he had cemented his dedication to his morals, by analyzing those texts, not only from his own perspective, but from ***his***. Even though they had never met each other, he had empathized with ***his*** struggle so much, that he even dared to imagine what ***his*** will might have looked like. Never mind that everyone ***he*** wished to give it to would have been killed long before ***he*** would have begun thinking about its contents, let alone writing it.  
  
Most important of all, He had proven his appreciation for his own life, via an even more profound act. Intertwined with his own reasoning behind the various traps’ construction, and the test subjects’ worthiness of being placed in them, he explain, clearly, how HE could be tested.  
  
How even HE could improve.  
  
How his status, on the margins of society, did not exempt him from its rules.  
  
Though hypocritical to some, he saw John Kramer’s philosophy as strangely egalitarian. “Equal opportunity testing”, he called it. “It’s not as black and white as lots of people think—because all kinds of people are put in them. Races, occupations, whatever. Which means Kramer thinks anyone and everyone can fail to appreciate their lives. But that also means anyone and everyone can learn to cherish their lives.”  
  
Such candid words… and the loving, if rough, sketches accompanying them, convinced ***him***.  
  
He didn’t have to be tested, like Lawrence Gordan, Amanda Young, Mark Hoffman, or Logan Nelson.  
  
No.  
  
Though he shared Logan Nelson’s name, Logan Johnson blew Jigsaw’s Logan out of the water. ***He*** didn’t even have to use the choice leading questions ***he*** had prepared, to affirm this.  
  
Logan answered them himself.  
  
  
  
“I can’t believe it. I was right? About ***Sans*** liking Saw?”  
  
 ** _👍_**  
  
“Well… since **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ (YOU)_** wanna hear MORE…  
“ ***His*** fight is KINDA!, a test. And YES—there’s a difference between THAT and a GAME. If the player dies to ***Sans*** , resets and leaves the Underground alone, then they’ve learned their LESSON! They’ve learned how they failed to respect everyone’s lives. And that ***Sans*** won’t let them DO that without facing the consequences.  
“HELL—when ***he*** JUDGES you it’s also kinda like a test.”   
  
**_📬︎📬︎📬︎ (...)_**  
  
“I was GETTING there.  
“A GAME, is just ONE thing—like the reverse bear trap. You get PUT in it, Billy—“  
  
 ** _✍︎✍︎✍︎ (???)_**  
  
“The puppet dude. He ISN’T jigsaw—Jigsaw just USES Billy to explain the things.  
“But ANYWAY!—Amanda woke up in the reverse bear trap. Billy told her how to get out of it. She got out of it JUUUUST in time. Jigsaw congratulated her. It’s done.  
“A test is—well…  
“Sometimes John called them “trials”. Tests and trials are BOTH SERIES of traps. A TEST, has rules—"  
  
 ** _✍︎✍︎✍︎_**  
  
“YEAH—if they break them they die.  
“A TRIAL, happens when John wants to measure someone’s psychological development. They’re supposed to LEARN something by doing it. It’s like a pre-post test from hell.”  
  
 ** _✍︎✍︎✍︎_**  
  
“… No. **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** don’t WANNA hear this idea. It’s CRAZY—in a BAAAAAD way.  
“And without it being in person it’s—"  
  
 ** _🛑✋✍📬︎ ✍︎✍︎✍︎ (🛑✋?. ???)_**  
  
“… … …  
“The short version is to do what JIGSAW would do.  
“For ***Sans*** to design something for them.  
“But just like the ***Sans*** fight and how ***he*** addresses YOU, ***he’d*** justify doing it using the PLAYER’S flaws.”   
  
**_✍︎✍︎✍︎_**  
  
“Not literally EVERYONE. Just the most well-known people. Content creators who’ve documented themselves playing Undertale a lot, so there’d be PLENTY of info to draw on. Let’s players and artists and voice actors. Community members.  
“… And we both know where I’d find those people. Or do I have to WORKSHOP that with **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_**?”  
  
 ** _🙂😉✏︎ (🙂😉!)_**  
  
“ ***Sans*** knows Saw REALLY well. ***He*** references ALL the movies in ***his*** fight so that cued everyone into how important they were. So the design and motive for the trial should come from THERE.  
“… And I know JUST the ones.”  
  
 ** _✍︎✍︎✍︎_**  
  
“Come on! **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎🕯︎✞︎☜︎ (YOU’VE)_** WATCHED! them! The player’s like William Easton, from Saw Vi. He had the power and money to help so MANY people!, but he DIDN’T! And he didn’t HELP them, for his OWN gain! He even had to learn to spare people’s lives who would’ve died under his insurance policies otherwise!  
“… Just like how in Undertale, you could argue that at least SOME, of the monsters who attacked Frisk should be fought. Or even DESERVED to die! But that to get the best ending, you have to spare EVERYONE. EVEN the monsters who don’t DESERVE to be spared.  
“In Undertale’s terms, John wanted William to see how high his Level of Violence truly was.  
“How much William had distanced himself from everyone.  
“Just like how everyone who will be chosen for these TESTS, chose to play Undertale over and over again, to hurt and KILL everyone over and over again, when they EASILY! Could’ve stopped doing it!”  
  
 ** _📄︎✍︎ (2?)_**  
  
“The SECOND movie we’d draw from would be Saw III.  
“We’d base the design of the trap off of the shotgun collar.  
“just like how it’s connected to John’s heartrate monitor and Lynn Denlon would die if she failed to keep John alive, THIS collar would go off if the player failed.”   
  
**_✍︎✍︎✍︎_**  
  
“What ELSE would they do?  
“Just like in Saw, ***Sans*** would give them the RULES.  
“And if they failed to obey, they’d—"  
  
 **✏︎✏︎✏︎✍︎✍︎✍︎ (!!!???)**  
  
“AWWW HEEEEEEELL NO!—Frisk wouldn’t die. If they died they’d just come back.  
“It’s their ❤️ **DETERMINATION** ❤️ that ***Sans*** wants to break, during ***his*** fight.  
“Or as John Kramer called it, their “will to live”.  
“So that’s what ***he’d*** do.  
“The collar would extract Frisk’s ❤️ **determination** ❤️, and to get it off, they’d have to follow ***his*** rules. I said this would be a test AND a trial ‘cause they’d have rules to follow—if the player LOADS or disobeys ***Sans*** they’ll fail—and it’s a TRIAL, ‘cause ***Sans*** would give them more and more difficult things to do to see how they’d react.  
“’Cause they’d be in the dark about what was happening. Just like ***HE*** was, for so long.”  
  
 ** _❤️⬆️✍︎ ❤️⬇️✍︎ ❤️⬅️✍︎ ❤️➡️✍︎✍︎✍︎ (❤️⬆️? ❤️⬇️? ❤️⬅️? ❤️➡️???)_**  
  
“… Their ❤️ **determination** ❤️ would go to someone who DESERVED it.  
“Someone who found their will to live, even though they by all rights should have crashed and burned, like when John drove himself off that cliff, but didn’t die.”   
  
**_✍︎✍︎✍︎_**  
  
“Where ELSE!? would Frisk go?  
“ ***Sans’s*** workshop. Just like Amanda, when she went to John’s workshop, after she survived HER trap.”   
  
**_✍︎✍︎✍︎_**  
  
“Well, that depends on what **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** think is important enough to put there. It’d have to be worth walking across the WHOOOOLE Underground, BLINDFOLDED for.”   
  
**_💡✏︎ 🤔📬︎📬︎📬︎✍︎✍︎✍︎ (💡! 🤔...???)_**  
  
“I…  
“… Well YEAH—I guess **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** could call the people who succeeded ***Sans’s*** disciples. And not JUST ‘cause some of the fandom STILL thinks ***Sans*** is John Kramer in a skeleton’s body—skeleton…!???  
“… Why?”  
  
 ** _🎵✍︎✍︎✍︎ (🎵???)_**  
  
“EXACTLY—the song’s named after the person in the trap or whoever’s important at the time—so if there was gonna be background music they’d be named “Hello Mathew” or “hello Stephany” or “Hello Camila”—WAIT where are **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** —”  
  
 ** _✍︎✍︎✍︎_**  
  
“… … …  
“I’d ask how **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎🕯︎👎︎ (YOU’D)_** do that but…  
“ ** _✡︎⚐︎🕆︎🕯︎✞︎☜︎_** done crazier things. **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** DID ask James Wan and Leigh Whannell and Toben Bell to help **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** write all that additional dialogue for ***Sans***. So asking Charlie Clouser for the Hello Zepp sheet music isn’t THAT far off.  
“But I think **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** should do the piano part—if it won’t be too PAINFUL for **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** , **_⚐︎☞︎ 👍︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎💧︎☜︎ (OF COURSE)_**.”  
  
 ** _🤣✏︎ (🤣!)_**  
  
“… Sorry…!??? It’s just, **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎🕯︎✞︎☜︎_** said LOTS of times how playing Hopes and Memes on the piano every day hurt **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎ (YOUR)_** wrists so…  
“… … …  
“And **_✡︎⚐︎🕆_** DID put that real guitar in Undertale. So it’s not like **_✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎_** HAVEN’T used real instruments before.”  
  
 ** _📬︎📬︎📬︎_**  
  
“ME?  
“Why not NATE!? Everyone KNOWS! Him from Ask Frisk and Company—they’d resp—"  
  
 ** _🛑✋_**  
  
“…  
Yeah.  
“ ** _✡︎⚐︎🕆︎🕯︎☼︎☜︎ (YOU’RE)_** right.  
I’M, the one who wants to put the fandom through this.  
“So I HAVE, to voice-act it.”  
  
 ** _😜🤣✏︎✏︎✏︎ (😜🤣!!!)_**  
  
“Haha!hahahahaha!  
“I didn’t MEAN! To make ***Sans*** sound like Jigsaw—I swear!!!”   
  
**_🛑✋📬︎ 📬︎📬︎📬︎ 📬︎📬︎📬︎ 📬︎📬︎📬︎ (🛑✋. ... ... ...)_**  
  
“… … …”  
  
 ** _☎️_**  
  
“… **_⚐︎☞︎ 👍︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎💧︎☜︎ (OF COURSE)_**.  
“Tell Toben I’ll…  
“Tell Toben I’m coming to his room soon.”   
  
**_📬︎📬︎📬︎ 📬︎📬︎📬︎ 📬︎📬︎📬︎_**  
  
“??? ??? ???”  
  
 ** _📬︎📬︎📬︎ 📬︎📬︎📬︎ 📬︎📬︎📬︎_**  
  
“… No.  
“ ** _✡︎⚐︎🕆︎_** mean…?”  
  
 ** _👍_**  
  
“… I…  
“I did THAT well?”  
  
 ** _👍👍_**  
  
“… … …  
“I’m not doubting ***him*** …!  
“… It’s an honor to—  
“… … … …  
  
  
“NO.  
“… I don’t know if ***you*** can HEAR me right now but even if ***you*** CAN’T.  
  
  
“Tell ***him*** I said this, okay?”  
  
 ** _👍👍👍_**  
  
  
  
“🧎🏿♂  
  
  
  
“ ***Sans***?  
  
  
  
“I will give EVERYTHING to ***you***.  
  
  
  
“EVERY CELL in my BODY,  
  
  
  
“. . . and every DROP of ❤️ **determination** ❤️ in my SOUL.  


  
  
  
“When I walk down that corridor, when I talk to Toben Bell, there is no turning back.  
  
  
  
“And I understand that.”

**Author's Note:**

> I accessed all of the below sources on February 18, 2021. They are listed in order of appearance.  
>   
> Background music (fanmade):  
> [Saw Spiral Music: Baptism | EPIC VERSION (Hello Amanda)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT9WGgXF0pA)  
>   
> Epigraph (from Saw II:  
> [SAW II: Detective Eric Matthews Scenes (Part 2)](%E2%80%9C)< br />  
> (Taken from 8:45 to 9:48)  
> [ Saw II (2005) - Tobin Bell as Jigsaw, John - IMDb](%E2%80%9C)  
> (Under the Quotes heading)  
>   
> Trap classifications:  
> [Saw Traps (Category page)](%E2%80%9C)  
>   
> Reverse bear trap description (under the heading Amanda Young’s Test):  
> [Reverse Bear Trap](%E2%80%9C)  
>   
> Shotgun collar description:  
> [Shotgun Collar](%E2%80%9C)  
>   
> William Easton’s trial description (under the History heading):  
> [William’s Trial](%E2%80%9C)  
>   
>  ** _❄︎⚐︎👌︎✡︎🕯︎💧︎ (TOBY’S)_** wrist pain (in the Meta folder):  
> [Tearjerker/Undertale](%E2%80%9C)  
>   
> Logan’s concluding monologue (under the Quotes heading):  
> [Saw III (2006) - Tobin Bell as Jigsaw, John Kramer - IMDb](%E2%80%9C)  
> 


End file.
